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The 2013 Reading-UNCTAD IB Conference:
‘Contemporary issues in International Business
Theory’
8 – 9 April 2013
Henley Business School at the University of Reading
is delighted to announce the Reading-UNCTAD International
Business Conference, taking place in April 2013, organized in
collaboration with the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD). This is the fourth
in a conference series that takes place biennially. These
distinctive conferences have become something of a tradition in
the IB community, not only because we seek – as is the tradition
at Reading – to look at things from a conceptual, ‘big picture’
level, but also because we emphasise a critical (and we believe,
healthy) balance between disciplines.
The debate panels for the 2013 conference
This year’s conference
will be built around three distinct but related debate panels:
Panel 1: New techniques of
international business research. Has the study of IB become
bogged down by quantitative empirical testing? What is the place
of mathematical and statistical modelling in IB? Should we be
formulating theories that are more readily testable? Panelists
include: Lorraine Eden, Danny Shapiro, Andrea Noya and Larissa
Rabiotti.
Panel 2: Reconciling dynamic
capabilities with the OLI/internalization theory. Can the nature of
dynamic capabilities be better aligned to both MNE theory and
strategic management thinking? How
do firms manage their dynamic capabilities through off-shoring
and outsourcing? Within the context of global value chains and
emerging economies, how do dynamic capabilities matter? Panelists
include:Klaus Meyer, Ans Kolk, Vikas Kumar, Philip Nell
Panel 3: Revisiting Dunning’s classification of motives for FDI activity. Is this classification due for an overhaul? For instance, almost all MNE activity has an efficiency-enhancing aspect to it. Strategic asset-seeking was meant to deal with investment activity intended to upgrade the technological assets of MNEs by acquiring R&D facilities abroad. Dunning did not consider that firms might acquire assets to overcome strategic weaknesses in their portfolio of assets. Others argue that this classification system is static: most FDI activity tends to have multiple motives. The motivations of MNEs evolve over time. How do FDI motives matter from the perspective of host and home countries, and industrial policy? Panelists include: Niron Hashai, Hafiz Mirza, Pavida Pananond, Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra
Paper submission and registration
The 2013 conference
will have both interactive sessions and
parallel sessions, and papers are invited that relate to
the three primary themes of this conference: dynamic capabilities,
global value chains and MNE motives.
Submissions for the parallel sessions: All submissions
should be emailed to [log in to unmask]. Papers must
be substantially complete, less than 10,000 words, and formatted
according to JIBS guidelines.
Indicate very clearly in the subject of the email and on the
coversheet ‘Parallel session’. The final deadline for submitting
a paper is 1 December 2012. Subsequent confirmation that your
paper has been accepted will be sent via email by 15 December
2012.
Submissions for the Poster sessions: Abstracts (of
up to 500 words) should be submitted by 1 December 2012 to:
[log in to unmask]. The subject of the email should
begin with the words: ‘Poster Session’. Subsequent confirmation
that your paper has been accepted will be sent via email by 15
December 2012
A special issue of Transnational Corporations, a journal
published by UNCTAD, will have a special issue dedicated to
papers relating to Global Value Chains (GVCs), drawn from papers
submitted to this conference.
We are also seeking to arrange various other publication
possibilities. Previous conference papers have been published in
Journal of Management Studies, European Journal of Development
Research and Multinational Business Review.
For further details
on submissions and registration, visit: